Indicator for fire-alarm purposes



(N0 Modei.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' M. 3; CRANE.

INDICATOR FOR FIRE ALARM PURPOSES. No. 273,033. Patented P33311333.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

M. G. CRANE.

INDIGATOR FOR FIRE ALARM PURPOSES. No. 273,033. Patented Feb.27, 1883.

PEIERS, mbuxmm, Washington, In;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES e. CRANE, or NE WTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

INDICATOR FOR FIRE-ALARM PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 273,033, dated February 2'7, 18.83.

Application filed December 3. 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MosEs G. CRANE, of Newton, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Indicators for Fire-Alarm Purposes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to anindicatorfor firealarm purposes, and is intended as an improvement in indicators of the class in which a series of figure-indicating devices or drums are controlled by the impulses employed in giving a fire-alarm to indicate the number of the said alarm, one drum being employed to indicate each figure of thefivhole number of the alarm and a single tripping device being employed to govern the movements of all the said drums, its position being controlled by a time-train, so that it will operate upon the different drums in turn when the proper interval occurs between the strokes of the alarm.

The present invention consists in improvements in the mechanical construction of the apparatus whereby it is rendered more certain in operation and more convenient for use.

Figure 1 shows in front elevation an indi cator constructed in accordance with this invention Fig. 2, a side elevation of the upper portion thereof, showing the means employed for operating the figure-i ndicatin g device Fig. 3, a detail Fig. 4,a modification to he referred to, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of one of the levers by which the movements of the figured drums are controlled.

The figure-indicating devices are shown as drums a a a each having the figures l to 9 in order at uniform distances on its periphery, and a corresponding blank space between'the figures l and 9, the whole apparatus being, when in use, inclosed in acase havinga series of apertures or windows, through which one of the said figures on each drum may be seen when in proper position, these parts beingcommon in indicators of this class. These drums are pivoted on a shaft, 2, supported in the frame-work A, the hub of each drum having a pinion, b, (see Fig. 2,) meshing with an actuatingdevice shown in Figs.1and 2,asa toothed bar, 0, slotted at its lower end to embrace and I be guided by the said pinion, and guided at its upper end in a slot in the frame-work A, the said bars being acted upon by springs 0, having a tendency to move them upward,and thus, through the pinions b, to turn the drums so as to bring the numbers from 1 to 9 successively behind the opening in the casing.

In Fig. 4 a segmental gear is employed instead of the bar 0 to operate the drums, it being the mechanical equivalent of the said bar, the preference depending upon the form of frame-work and relative positions of the parts. The movement of the drums is controlled by the escapement-levers d, pivoted upon a shaft, 3, in the frame-work, and having pallets d 01, arranged to engage pins 01 projecting laterally from the drums, one pin corresponding to each figure upon the face thereof. The levers d are provided with feet d actuated, as hereinafter said levers d on its pivot at each stroke of the alarm. When the lever d is thus raised the pin d held by it, escapes from the pallet d, and is arrested by the pallet (1 as will be readily understood by referring to Fig. 2, and when the lever falls again under the action of gravity, assisted by the spring (1", the said pin escapes from the pallet 01 and the drum rotates until the next pin is arrested by the pallet (1. By this arrangement the drum is permitted to move for the space of one figure, and one only, each time the foot d of the lever 01 is actuated.

each drum, serves by its engagement with the bar a to prevent the drum from moving forward farther than one complete rotation, and also serves as a stop to limit the backward movement thereof when the drums are restored to their normal position, indicating blank'or zero, by the restoring-plate a, pivoted at 4 upon theframe-work, and adapted, when moved downward by the rod c as hereinafter described, to engage the toothed bars and move them down\vard,rotating the (lllllIlS a a a backward to their zero or normal post tion. The faces of pallets d 01 engaged by the pins d in this backward movement, are indescribed, to produce a vibration of one of the A stop-pin, a connected with the side of clined, so as to permit the said pins to pass aaaoaa readily, they then vibrating the arms 61 up and down.

The feet d of the controlling or escapement levers d are operated by an actuating device or trip-rod, 0, connected with a wrist-pin, carried by the main cam-shaft e of a train of wheel-worl:, ff'f, actuated in the usual mannor by a spring or weight connected with the squared winding-shaftf and governed by a' fan or fiy,f The said main or cam shaft 6 is provided with a deteut-arm, e controlled by a projection, g, in the armaturelever g,

pivoted at 5 in such position that when the armature is retracted from its controlling-magnet 9 the said projection g is disengaged from the arm e permitting the shaft 0 to revolve, and in such revolution to throw the trip 6 upward, so that it'will engage one of the feet d of the escapement-levers d. in the said rotation a cam, 0 on the hub of the arm 0 engages a spring, 9", on an arm, 9 of the armature-lever, mechanically moving the armature up to the poles of its magnet, and a pin, 6 engages an armature-prop, e, pivoted at 6 upon the frame-work A, raising the said prop so that its end '0 engages a pin, 9, on the end of the armature-lever g, as shown in dotted lines, and retains the said armature quite close to the poles of its magnet, so that but comparatively small magnetic force will be required to attract the said armature. The action of the cam e and pin 0 is properly timed, so that the former first moves up the armature-lever, and the latter then moves up the prop and retains it until the said cam c has released the armature-lever, permitting it to engage and be held by the said prop, which is itself held by the armaturelever as long as. it is under the infiuence of its retractor alone, having a tendency to move the armature away from the magnet. As soon as the armature is attracted the pin 9 is thereby moved out of engagement with the end e of the prop 6 which drops byits own weight to the position shown in full lines,

0 Fig. 1, leaving the armature free to move back as soon as the magnetg is again demagnetized. It will thus be seen that each time that the circuit, over which a signal is being sent is closed and then broken the shaft 0 will be permitted to make one revolution, and in so doing will restore the armature nearly to the poles of its magnet and raise the prop a to retain it there until the circuitis again closed, and that in the said rotation of the shaft e the trip-rod 0 will be thrown upward to strike one of the feet (1 of the escupement-levers of the figured drums. The upper end of the said trip 6 passes through a guide, h, carried upon an arm of a trip-controlling plate, 'i, which is frictionally held upona' shatt, j,ofa gear, j, meshing with the pinion upon the shaft of an escapement-wheel, 3' governed by a pendulum, 9' so as to have a uniform movement," the said wheels constituting a train denominated the controlling time-train. The said shaftj has upon by the trip-rod, and so on.

loose upon it a pinion,j (see Fig. 3,) meshing with a segmental gear, j provided with an actuating-springJ and a cam-rollenj resting upon a cam, 6 upon the shaft 6 of the main train, so that at each rotation of the said shaft 0 as before described, the segmental gearj is raised, stretching the springj".

The pinion j is provided with a ratchet engaging a pawl on the gear j, so that in the return movement of the segment 3' under action of the springj, as soon as the high part of the cam c has passed the rollerj which occurs when the detent-arni e is held, the timetrain is set in motion by the force of the spring j", carrying trip-controlling plate z with a uniform movement from lelt to right, Fig. 1. The speed of movement of the'time-train is such that the rod 6 will be carried from one to the next of the feet at in an interval of time, such as employed between the difl'erent series of strokes representing the figures of the whole number of an alarm-as, for instance, that occurring between the three strokes and the four strokes of the alarm 3 4 5.

The trip-guiding plate t is provided with teeth t" in proper position to be engaged by a pin, 0 on the hub of the arm 6 in the rotation of the shaft 6 the said pin carrying the plate 0; back in the opposite direction to that in which it is moved by the time-train to such a point that when the left-hand one of the said teeth is engaged by the said pin the trip-rod e in the same rotation of the shaft 6 will strike the left-hand one of the feet (1 permitting the lefthand drum, a, to move for one space, as before described, and when the next tooth t" is engaged the next foot and drum will be acted The plate t' slips backward independently of the shaft j when thus actuated by the pin 6 and immediately after the arm 6 has been arrested begins to travel under, the action of the timetrain,from the left-hand toward the right-hand one of the feet (1 If a short interval only elapses between the successive relations of the shaft 6 such as employed between the different strokes representing one figure of a whole number, the tooth 11 ot' the plate z that was last engaged will not be carried by the timetrain beyond the range of the pin 0 so that as long as the strokes occur at these definite short intervals the trip-rod 6 will always be carried back to the same spot and actuate the same one of the feet d and figured drums, thus giving a series of movements of the same drum, and causing it to show a figure the same as the number of the said movements. When, however, the long interval occurs the tooth 1 last actuated will be carried beyond the range of the pin 6 and the end of the trip-rod 6 will be carried to the next one of the feet d, and in the next rotation of the shaft 0 after the said interval, the next tooth 'i will be engaged by the pin 0 and the trip-rod e willbe brought back to a position under the said next foot (1 so that the left-hand one of the drums willnowremain stationary,indicatingthenumber of the first series of blows for the first figure of the whole number of the alarm, while the second drum will begin to be actuated to show the number of the next series of strokes, and after the next equally long interval the third tooth t" will be engaged by the pin a and the third drum will be actuated. If the number of the alarm should contain but one or two figures, the interval between the successive repetitions of the wheel-number is so much greater than that between the different figures of the same number that the succeeding tooth i will be carried wholly beyond the range of the pin 0 and only the first drum or first two drums will be actuated, as should be the case. After an alarm has been completed the apparatusis restored to its normal condition (shown in Fig. 1) as follows: The drum-restoring plate or lever a is connected by a rod, a with a similar lever or arm, a pivoted at the bottom of the frame-work, and provided with a suitable cord or handle, (1.", extended out through the case, so that by pulling down on the said handle the plate afiis depressed, thereby turning' the drums back to their normal position, as before described.

The rod a is provided with a tappet, a which, when thus depressed, engages an arm, V, of the trip-guide plate 6, moving the end of the trip-rod 0 back to the proper position to engage the left-hand one of the feet d, as is desired for giving the first figure of the next alarm or signal that may be sent.

The range of movementof the plated is limited by a stop-pin, Z, upon the frame-work, and the pin upon the armature-lever.

The winding-up earn 6 of the time-train is of such height that the said train will run down in about the interval which occurs between the two rounds or repetitions of the same signal, so that the said train will usually be run down before the restoring devices a a a are set back by the operator.

1 claim- 1. In an indicator, the figured drums provided with stop-projections corresponding to the figures thereon, combined with pinions connected with the said drums, toothed actuating devices meshing with the said pinions, means to move the said actuating devices to rotate the said drums, and mechanism co-oper- 'ating with the said stop-projections, whereby the drums are arrested when moved to display the proper figure, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the figured drum provided with projections corresponding in position to the figures thereon, and actuating mechanism tending -to rotate it in one direction, of the pivoted escapement-lever provided with two pallets, arranged to co-operate with the said projectionsin turn, whereby the said drum is permitted to move for the space of one figure only at each complete to-and-fro vibration of the said lever, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the following elements, namely: the figured drums, stop-projections corresponding to the figures thereon, pinions connected with the said drums, toothed actuating-bars, slotted to embrace and be guided by the said pinions, springs or equivalents for moving the said bars in one direction and restoring mechanism to move them in the other direction, and mechanism co-operating with the stop-projections, whereby the drums are arrested at the proper points when actuated by the bars moving under the influence of their springs, substantially as described.

4. The main cam-shaft, provided with a detent-arm combined with the armature lever, having a stop projector for the said detentarm, and an arm to be engaged by a cam on the said shaft in its rotation, and the armature-propping device adapted to be engaged by aprojection on the said shaft in its rotation, whereby at each rotation of the said shaft the armature is restored to a position near the poles of its magnet, and the propping device moved up to retain it there, substantially as described.

5. The main cam-shaft, its wrist-pin, and

tripping-rod connected therewith, combined with the controlling guide-plate for the said tripping-rod, and its controlling time-train and actuating-spring therefor, the said main shaft being provided with a cam by which the said spring is wound up to actuate the said timetrain, substantially as described. 6. The figured drum and the trip-rod guideplate, combined with the restoring mechanism for the said drum and guide-plate, whereby both are set in their normal position, ready to receive a signal by a single operation, substantially as described.

7. The figure-indicating devices and con trollinglevers therefor, combined with the trip-rod, its controlling-plate frictionally connected with the shaft of a time-train, and provided with teeth and a guide for the said rod, and the main cam-shaft connected with the said rod, and provided with a projection cooperating with the teeth of the prop-controlling plate, substantially as described.

8. A series of figured drums arranged to turn separately and independently under the action of springs or their equivalents, and

each provided with a series of concentricallyarranged and equidistant lateral pins, in combination with escapement-levers arranged between the drums, and each provided with two pallets 'tor the 'said pins, and with an actuating-foot forming a part of the said lever, substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. A series of figured drums arranged to turn separately and. independently under the action of springs or their equivalents, and each provided with a series of concentrically-arranged and equidistant lateral pins, in combination with escapement-levers arranged 5 between the said drums, and each provided with two pallets for the said pins, and with an v actuating-foot forming a port-ion of the said lever, and with a trip-rod arranged to travel in relation to and operate upon and against 1 each and all the said levers, substantially as 10 and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereofl have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

' MOSES G. CRANE. Witnesses J 0s. P. LIVERMORE,

W. H. Sres'roN. 

